Iran is lukewarm after President Trump suggests a meeting: NPR

A man in Tehran watches a newspaper with a picture of President Trump on the front page on Tuesday. The Iranian currency has traded to a new low of $ 119,000 per dollar today, a loss of nearly two-thirds of its value since the beginning of the year, while the US sanctions are looming. Trump says he is ready to meet with Iranian leaders, but Iran does not seem eager to sit down.

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A man in Tehran watches a newspaper with a picture of President Trump on the front page on Tuesday. The Iranian currency has traded to a new low of $ 119,000 per dollar today, a loss of nearly two-thirds of its value since the beginning of the year, while the US sanctions are looming. Trump says he is ready to meet with Iranian leaders, but Iran does not seem eager to sit down.

Atta Kenare / AFP / Getty Images

Although President Trump said Monday that he would be ready to meet with Iranian President Hassan Rohani at any time, it appears that this meeting will not happen soon – several Iranian officials have downplayed the possibility of One sitting, without excluding it entirely.

The leaders of the United States and Iran did not meet in person before the 1979 Islamic revolution. A phone call between Rouhani and former President Obama in 2013 was the first conversation direct of any kind for decades. This call was part of the lengthy negotiations for a multinational nuclear deal with Iran in 2015 – which Trump has withdrawn from this year.

Following Trump's decision to withdraw from the agreement, some previously lifted US sanctions will be re-imposed on Iran over the next few months.

Trump issued his invitation on Monday, saying that he would be willing to meet Iranian leaders "whenever they want," with "no preconditions".

However, as NPR's Peter Kenyon notes, "shortly after Trump spoke and said no preconditions, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo went on CNBC and he exposed a number of conditions he talked about before. "

Pompeo called on Iranian leaders to "demonstrate their commitment to making fundamental changes in the way they treat their own people" and to "accept that it is worth it" to conclude a new nuclear deal.

Iran, in turn, responded with a list of its own conditions.

Hamid Aboutalebi, an adviser to Rouhani, tweeted Monday calling on the United States to respect Iran and return to the original nuclear agreement. "Respect the rights of the Iranian nation, reduce hostilities and return to the nuclear agreement are steps that can be taken to pave the bumpy road of the talks between Iran and America," he said. declared Iran. his openness to dialogue in the past, especially with the phone call between Rouhani and Trump's predecessor, Barack Obama, in 2013. This dialogue was based on the idea of ​​confidence-building measures and the agreement Nuclear power was a realization of this effort and it must be accepted The deputy speaker of the Iranian parliament also told reporters that the withdrawal of the United States from the 2015 agreement, known as the Plan of Action. common global action, made new negotiations a puzzle.

"Negotiations with the United States would have been fair if the United States had not withdrawn from the JCPOA and imposed sanctions on Iran," said Ali Motahhari, according to the report. Iranian news agency IRNA. In "appropriate" conditions, negotiation may be useful, but currently such discussions would only bring humiliation to Iran, he said, according to IRNA.

At the same time, Ali Akbar Nategh Nouri, a member of the Iran Discernment Council, said that it made no sense to reject the offer from the outset.

The Associated Press Reports:

"" This should be discussed at the Supreme National Security Council, "said Nategh Nouri, who is also a former assistant to the Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. "The gesture, but also warned" we should not rejoice in this offer and not be excited. "

" Trump can take advantage of this over-excitement, "he said, reported the IRNA news agency. It could be a test for us. "

Kenyon reports that Rouhani himself – who did not respond publicly to the invitation – told parliament that the United States has proved that they are not keeping their promises and that Iran will protect its right to export oil.

Kenyon says that there will be some pressure on Iran to negotiate with the United States – but it does put that in perspective.

to negotiate the nuclear deal [2015] after years of sustained pressure from the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China, "says Kenyon. "But it is not clear that they have a feasible plan for this: the Iranian economy is suffering badly, inflation is rising, the rial is down, so there will be of pressure – but if Iran's past reactions to pressure are a guide, it will take time if there is a meeting. "